Ms Caroline Timmons:

The first home shared equity scheme was set up last year, and it has been very successful to date. We are very pleased to see that. There was inordinate work put in to get that done. It started in July, and to the end of the year we had 750 approvals under the scheme. In the first quarter of this year however, we have seen a huge uptake in the numbers, and we are already at 1,336 approvals by the end of quarter 1. That demand for the scheme is really there, and we are seeing people purchasing real houses under the scheme now. It is very gratifying to see that happening, given that it was in Housing for All just as a notional thing. To actually see it in place is great. We are in 24 counties with this scheme now as well, which means that it is making affordable purchase a reality for many people in counties where we do not yet have a local authority affordable purchase scheme. That is obviously widening out its scope.

We have registered interest at this point of 3,556 people, so of the 8,000 that we intend to do under that scheme we have a very good line of sight of what we are going to be getting. We are very happy to see it. At the start of the year, we also revised the house price ceilings, so we are keeping a very close eye on that. The scheme, or the designated activity company, DAC itself, works on looking at what the median prices are for the first-time buyers in the areas, and revising accordingly. It also keeps an eye on any inflationary effects, and will monitor that very closely into the future.

I will maybe answer Deputy Higgins about the cost rental-----